Citroen driver Kris Meeke has taken an early lead in Rally Mexico after claiming his first stage wins of the 2017 World Rally Championship season.
Meeke emerged from Friday’s stages with a 20.9 second lead over M-Sport’s Sébastien Ogier, following a shortened day of action.
He claimed most of his lead with the best time on the long El Chocolate stage, as well as winning SS7 later in the day.
El Chocolate proved to be the first stage of the day after the cancellation of SS2 and SS3, following delays overnight getting the cars back to Leon due to a road accident.
Other highlights for Meeke included fourth in SS5, winning the first run through Leon Autodrome and finishing second on the next attempt (SS8) to end the day with a healthy margin over Ogier’s Ford Fiesta.
Thierry Neuville was third after Friday’s stages, despite all three Hyundai drivers suffering misfires, and is 56.7 seconds back.
Toyota’s Juho Hänninen was classified fourth at the end of the day’s running, ahead of Ott Tänak, Stéphane Lefebvre and Hadden Paddon in the second Hyundai.
Rally Sweden winner Jari-Matti Latvala was first on the road for the gravel stages and ended Friday a low-key eighth, while Dani Sordo lost a considerable amount of time and fell down the order.
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